CSS 303
RESEARCH METHODS IN CRIMINOLOGY AND SECURITY STUDIES
Topic: RESEARCH DESIGNS
Meaning of Research Design
Research design is the plan, structure and strategy of investigation conceived so as
to obtain answers to research questions and to control variance. The plan is the
overall scheme or programme of the research. It is a plan or blueprint or logical
model that guides the researcher at the various stages of research. It tells the
researcher what to look for, how to look for it and how to analyse the quantitative
representation of the observation.
Research design addresses the planning of scientific inquiry – designing a strategy
for finding out something. There are two major aspects of research design.
First you must specify precisely what you want to find out, second, you must
determine the best way to do that. Ultimately, scientific research comes down to
making observations and interpreting what you have observed. You need to
determine what you are going to observe and analyse: why and how. That is
what research design is all about.
For example, if you are interested in studying corruption in government. You
have to specify the area you are interested in. What do you mean by
corruption, what kinds of behaviour do you have in mind? And what do you
mean by government? Who do you want to study: all public employees? Only
civilian employees? Elected officials? Civil servants? Finally, what is your
purpose? Do you want to find out how much corruption there is? Do you mean
to learn why corruption exists? These are the kinds of questions that need to be
answered in the course of research design.
Characteristics of Research Design
a) Research design is a framework
b) It specifies the types of data to be collected
c) It specifies the sources from which it is to be collected
d) It defines the population and the sample of study
e) It states the procedure for data collection
f) Research design also states the statistical tool to use in the analyses of data
g) Research design shows what exactly direction investigation should follow
Functions of Research Design
The following are the major functions of research design as enumerated by Vincent
et al 2008.
1. Research design helps the investigator obtain answers to the questions of
research.
2. It also helps the researcher to control the experimental, extraneous and error
variances of the particular research problem under study.
3. It provides the research with the necessary framework or blueprint for tackling a
particular research problem
4. It gives the direction for the research
5. It makes external validity possible and the extent to which this is possible
6. It helps researcher determines if there is any relationship among the variables,
7. It helps researcher in the process of collection, analyzing and interpreting
research data
8. It helps the researcher to draw appropriate cause-effect relationship among
variables.
Types of Research Design
In social sciences, we have the following types of research design:
Descriptive Design, Exploratory Design, Historical Research Design,
Longitudinal Design or time-series studies, Cohort Research Design, Case
Study Design, Content Analysis, Meta Analysis, Experimental Design, Quasi-
experimental Design, and Mixed Study Designs.
Descriptive Design
A major purpose of many social scientific studies is to describe situations and
events. The researcher observes and then describes what was observed. It aims at
giving the specific details of a situation, social environment of relationship. A
descriptive study determines and reports the way things are. Examples of
descriptive research are assessing attitudes or opinions toward individuals,
organizations, events or procedures, pre-election political polls and market
research survey.
Descriptive data are typically collected through a questionnaire, survey, an
interview or observation. Descriptive research is aimed at the following.
1. It also calls for careful planning to have random sample so as to make the
description truly representative of the problem or situation.
2. It focuses on an event that is ongoing or the event that has already taken place;
hence research may vary the method of observation not the event.
3. It involves data collection, data analysis, interpretation, contrast, classification
and integration of findings.
4. It uses words and number to describe; hence the researcher must be able to use
simple descriptive statistics.
5. The main aim of description studies is to describe a dependent variable in the
population and also to inform as basis for decision making.
6. It seeks to acquire evidence, norms or baseline information which can be used
for comparative purposes or other type of research.
Exploratory Design
As the name implies, exploratory design entails going out to look for information
or getting preliminary information. The purpose is typical when a researcher is
examining a new interest or when the subject of study is itself relatively new and
unstudied. They are also appropriate in the case of more persistent phenomena.
Exploratory studies are mostly done for three purposes:
1) To satisfy the researcher’s curiosity and desire for better understanding
2) To test the feasibility of undertaking a more careful study; and
3) To develop the methods to be employed in a more careful study.
Historical Research Design
Historical research interprets past trends of attitude, event and fact. It is any
integrated narration or description of past events or facts written in a spirit of
critical inquiry for the whole truth. Historical research design deals with
determination, evaluation and explanation of past events essentially for the purpose
of gaining a better and clearer understanding of the present and making a more
liable prediction of the future.
The purpose of a historical research should be to explain or predict not to relic, it is
also used to discover new knowledge or to clarify, correct or expand existing
knowledge. Another purpose is to gain a clearer perspective of the present.
Another motive underlying historical research is the simple scholarly desire of the
scientist to arrive at an accurate account of the past.
Longitudinal Studies Design
Longitudinal studies means when researchers repeatedly measure traits of the
subjects over a period of time in order to trace developmental trends. The subjects
are observed from time to time within this period for any changes in those
particular characteristics under study which may appear within this period. This
type of research is predominantly descriptive and explanatory in nature. It is used
mainly in applied research and more specifically in evaluative research. This is
also called time-series studies.
They involve two or more case studies or the same group with a time lapse
between measurements, the longitudinal research design compares different
measurements of the same group or thing over a period of time
Advantages of Longitudinal Research
1. It can point out specific tendencies with great certainty which makes it possible
for researchers to make forecasts.
2. It is more indicative to social change.
Disadvantages of Longitudinal Research
1. It is more complex and more expensive
2. It is time consuming.
Cohort Research Design
Cohort Research as the name implies is observing of a group of people who share a
like characteristic over time. Cohort research is carried out by using a category of
people who had the same experiences in life over a specific period of time. In other
words, the category of people is investigated as a whole in order to determine its
most important characteristics. The emphasis is on cohort or category and not on
the specific individual. Cohort research is extremely difficult, expensive and time
consuming to follow over time.
Case Design
A case study is the in-depth investigation of an individual, group or institution. It is
thorough understanding of a given social element or unit. In this type of research
extensive use of logical or analytical induction is made. Case study research is also
used to link micro level to the macro level. On the micro level, the behaviour of
individuals is studied so that it can be applied to social structures and processes on
a large scale (macro level). In case study design, data are collected by means of
various techniques such as - observation by the researcher of physical
characteristics, social qualities or conduct - questionnaires - psychological test
- data reported in newspapers, court and school reports as well as other
documents. A case study can be either quantitative or qualitative or even a
combination of both
The purpose of case studies is as follows:
1. They are very valuable as preliminaries to major investigations
2. Once a case is studied, it can provide insights into the class of events from
which the case has been drawn. 3. A case study may refute a universal
generalization
4 A case study is preferred when the relevant behaviours cannot be manipulated.
5 A case study may be valued in its own right as a unique case.
The types of case studies are: (a) Historical Case Study (b) Observational Case
Study (c) Oral History (d) Situational Analysis (e) Clinical Case Study (f) Multi
Case Study.
The major problems with case study are possible observer’s bias (the observer sees
what he or she wants to see) and lack of generalizability.
Content Analysis
Content analysis is the systematic, description of the composition of the object of
study. It may be applied to virtually any form of communication. Content analysis
answers the classic question of communication research “who says what, to whom,
why, how and what effect?” Both inductive and deductive methods are useful in
the content analysis method.
For example, newspapers can be studied and analysed to show how the reporters
isolate the effects of violence in conflict in Nigeria tribal clashes against children
and women. Content analysis of Michael Jackson’s music can be done by studying
all his music records.
Advantages of Content Analysis 1) The greatest advantage of content analysis is
its economy in terms of both time and money. 2) Safety is another advantage. In
content analysis it is usually easier to repeat a portion of the study than for other
research methods. 3) It permits researcher to study processes occurring over long
period of time 4) It seldom has any effect on the subject being studies,
Disadvantages of Content Analysis 1) It is limited to the examination of recorded
communications. 2) The facts or ideas may be distorted by the newspaper.
Meta Analysis
Meta Analysis involves gathering data from a number of previous studies.
Compatible information and data are extracted and pooled together. When
analysed, the grouped data from several different studies provide a more powerful
and valid indicator of relationships than the results provided from a single study.
According to Gay 1992, “Meta analysis is a statistical approach to summarizing the
results of many studies which have investigated basically the same problem. It
provides a numerical way of expressing the average result”.
Disadvantages of Meta Analysis
1. It has been documented that different authors use different criteria for selecting
the studies to be included, use different review strategies and often come to
different conclusions.
2. Critics of Meta analysis claim that this strategy results in the inclusion in a
review of a number of poor studies.
Advantages of Meta Analysis
Despite its perceived short coming, it still represents a significant improvement
over the traditional methods of summarizing literature.
Cross-sectional Survey Design
This is a type of research design that is carried out at a particular point in time
among a cross-section of a population either through administration of
questionnaires or through interviews on some relevant topic. It is used to take
opinion, thought and feelings.
Experimental Design: Talk briefly on this
Quasi-experimental Design: Talk briefly on this
Mixed Study Designs: A mixture of quantitative and qualitative studies.
Techniques of Survey Research are: • Questionnaires • Interviews • Survey
CONCLUSION
The selection of research design for empirical research is of vital importance in the
process of responsible research. In the absence of universally acceptable
research design applicable to research it is important to select a research
design that most is suitable for the nature of problem to be studied.
